


Secret Snowflake

by buffymysavior



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Christmas Presents, F/M, Fluff, Secret Santa, secret snowflake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 01:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17415956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buffymysavior/pseuds/buffymysavior
Summary: Jonah draws Buffy’s name for Secret Snowflake and goes on a mission to find her the perfect gift.





	Secret Snowflake

They were all at The Spoon when it happened. The six of them were sitting at a table (they’d outgrown their booth for four back in middle school) with two baskets of baby taters between them and several sheets of study guides and notes cluttering the table. It was the week before exams, meaning that everyone was in full-on study mode, or cramming mode for Jonah, at least. He always waited until the last possible minute to begin studying for finals, and the winter of his sophomore year was no different. He scrunched his eyebrows together as he glanced at his math textbook; since when did Algebra have so many variables?

Suddenly, Andi’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “You know what we should do?” she asked, hands folded over her study notes. Jonah looked up at her, wide-eyed and curious, Buffy and Walker looking at her with a similar expression. Even Cyrus and TJ stopped working on their math homework to spare her a glance. “We should do Secret Snowflake,” Andi announced proudly.

Everyone groaned at the idea, Jonah a little louder than the rest. He was _horrible_ at giving gifts, and everyone knew it, too, Andi probably the best. Why did she have to throw him under the bus like this?

“Oh, come on, guys,” Andi pleaded. “It would give us _something_ to do other than study for finals.”

“ _Finals_ are exactly why we shouldn’t do this,” Buffy pointed out. “All we need to be focusing on for the next week and a half are our exams.”

Jonah had to agree with Buffy. He really couldn’t afford to get another bad grade the way this semester was going. “Buffy, doing a Secret Snowflake would not ruin your perfect 4.0 GPA, I promise,” Andi teased lightly.

“I still don’t want to take that chance,” Buffy said stubbornly, picking her pencil up and turning back to her study guide.

“It’s a good idea, Andi, but it _is_ awfully close to exams,” Cyrus explained, absentmindedly rolling a baby tater between his thumb and forefinger. “Maybe we should regroup and have one after the holidays.”

“ _After_ the holidays?” Andi cried out. “Cyrus, do you even hear yourself? What would be the fun in that?”

It was TJ who spoke up this time, his voice sounding a little defensive as he looked at Andi. “He does have a point. We don’t really have a lot of time between now and Christmas.”

“Guys, I promise we’ll have enough time to do Secret Snowflake,” Andi assured. “We can even have group study sessions every night if you want. Come on, please!” she begged. When no one answered, she turned to her boyfriend. “Walker, what do you think?”

Everyone’s eyes snapped towards Walker as he seemed to think. Jonah was silently hoping he would say no, too, but since he was Andi’s boyfriend, he knew it was unlikely.

When Jonah saw the easy smile grow on Walker’s face, he knew he was a goner. “I say it’s a great idea,” Walker exclaimed, making the others groan in defeat. “I think it’s a good way to show how much we mean to each other. You can’t go wrong with a thoughtful gift.”

“Says the arts and crafts couple,” Buffy muttered under her breath, making everyone around her snicker. Jonah had the decency to try and hide his own smile, but he knew it was useless. For some reason, he always had a hard time hiding his feelings around Buffy. Weird.

Andi rolled her eyes at the joke. “Laugh all you want, but I think he’s right,” she said, throwing Walker a smile. “Jonah, what about you? You haven’t said anything yet.”

Jonah glanced around at everybody and found Buffy’s reproachful eyes watching him from across the table. “It _is_ cutting it a little close to exams,” he said after a moment.

“Not you, too!” Andi exclaimed in exasperation. “Would you guys just forget about our finals for a minute? Can you _please_ just do this for me? Your _best friend_?”

TJ, Cyrus, Buffy, and Jonah glanced between themselves, and by the look they were all giving each other, Jonah could sense what was coming, even being as oblivious as he was. “Fine! We’ll do it,” Buffy sighed in frustration.

A bright grin stole away on Andi’s face. “I promise you won’t regret this,” she cheered, giving Buffy a side-hug from beside her.

This time, Buffy smiled. For some reason, that made Jonah’s own grin widen, something that made him feel even more confused than he usually was.

Fortunately, he didn’t get much time to think about it before Andi was ripping a stray piece of paper into six pieces. “Here, everyone write your name on this,” she said, thrusting a ragged strip into everybody’s hands. Jonah clicked open his pen before scribbling his name onto it.

“Okay, what now?” Jonah asked, quirking his eyebrows up in a question. The others seemed just as confused as he was.

Andi looked around wildly before her eyes settled on one of the baby tater baskets. “Now, we’ll just,” she muttered, dumping the remaining taters in the other basket, “put the names in here.”

Everyone folded their strips of paper up and dropped them onto the greasy wax cover. “Now what?” TJ questioned dubiously, staring at the baby tater basket filled with names.

“I guess now we just pick one?” Andi suggested. When everybody met her with skeptical looks, she exclaimed, “I don’t know! I’ve never done this before.”

“No, you’re right,” Walker said. “How about we all pick a name on three,” everyone’s hand hovered over the basket, “two, one, go!” Each of them snatched up a name quickly before pulling their hands away from the table.

Cyrus unfolded his name first, a noticeable grin on his face as he read his slip. “Are we allowed to say who we got?” he asked excitedly.

“No, Cyrus,” Andi said firmly. “That’s why it’s called _Secret_ Snowflake.”

Jonah noticed Buffy open hers next, keeping her face neutral as she read her own name. “This’ll be easy,” Buffy said, a competitive edge to her voice as she gave everyone a smirk. “If there’s one thing Buffy Driscoll is good at, it’s getting gifts.”

 _I wish I was good at that_ , Jonah thought bitterly as he looked at his folded-up strip of paper. He still hadn’t looked at the name on it, worried that he wouldn’t be able to get a good gift for whoever was on his slip.

He watched as Andi and Walker looked at their names, both of them unable to contain the smiles on their faces as they did so. “I already have so many ideas,” Andi smiled, folding up her slip and stuffing it into the front of her jeans pocket.

“I think I have my work cut out for me,” Walker agreed with a grinning face.

Seeing everyone’s reactions to their names made Jonah feel even more nervous than before. The only one of them who didn’t seem to have any sort of reaction to who they got was TJ, who glanced at his paper, shrugged indifferently, and shoved it into his pocket without a word, which didn’t really make Jonah feel any better than before.

Jonah glanced down at the slip in his hand, his curiosity finally overcoming his fear as he slowly unfolded the scrap of paper.

When he finally got the courage to look at the slip, he felt his breathing shallow. In bold, black letters was a single word: _Buffy_.

Jonah glanced back up at the table, his eyes immediately locking with the girl’s in question. “What?” Buffy asked in confusion, a slight frown settling on her lips.

Without another look at it, Jonah folded up his paper and slipped it inside his pocket. “Nothing!” he said with his classic grin, the words almost sounding _too_ enthusiastic, even for him.

The frown on her face only deepened at that. “Okay,” she said uncertainly, a slightly suspicious look on her face as she reached over the table and grabbed a baby tater from the remaining basket.

Jonah hoped the excitement on his face didn’t give himself away. He was so _glad_ it was Buffy; she was the only person he’d even been able to get a somewhat-decent gift for, oddly enough, mostly with the time capsule he’d helped make for her a couple years ago.

As everyone began talking excitedly about their present ideas for their person, Jonah felt some of his previous panic set in. Even if he was usually good at getting Buffy gifts, he still had _one_ slight problem.

Jonah had absolutely _no idea_ what to get her.

* * *

It was about two days later when the six of them were studying together again, except this time it was at Cyrus’s house. They were all hanging out in the living room; Andi and Walker were sitting together on the couch, Cyrus and TJ were leaning against the sofa and working together on TJ’s math, and Buffy and Jonah were sitting on the floor working at the coffee table stationed in the middle of the room. It was quiet for the most part save for the occasional banter every now and then, but everyone was too stressed out about exams to do much talking. Well, everyone except Jonah, anyway. He was just as stressed as everyone else was, but not _just_ because of exams. Most of his worrying was because he wasn’t sure what he should get Buffy for her Secret Snowflake; sure, he’d had some luck in the past with her jersey and the basketball, but Jonah hadn’t been thinking about impressing Buffy then. All he’d been worried about was getting the whole team to sign a basketball for her; this time around, though, he felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

Jonah was thinking about just that when Buffy’s voice cut through the air. “Jonah, you okay? You’ve been staring at the same page for twenty minutes.”

Jonah looked up to see everyone’s eyes on him. “Oh, yeah,” he laughed awkwardly, flipping the page of his textbook. “I just spaced out for a few minutes. Too much studying, I guess.”

“Why don’t we take a break?” Andi suggested, snapping her notebook shut. “We’ve been at this for an hour straight.”

“Please,” TJ groaned, dropping his textbook on the ground with a thud. “I’ve been reading for so long that the words are starting to float off the page.”

Cyrus stood up, using TJ’s shoulder to steady himself. “I’m getting snacks from the kitchen,” he announced. “Anyone want anything while I’m in there? I think we _all_ need something to distract us from studying.”

Suddenly, Jonah got an idea. Maybe Cyrus could help him with his gift for Buffy! Cyrus knew Buffy best, after all. Besides, he knew better than to talk to Andi about it since she was so adamant on keeping Secret Snowflake, well, a secret. As everyone began listing off what snacks they wanted, Jonah shot straight up. “Here, let me help you, Cy-Guy,” he offered with his classic grin.

“Okay!” Cyrus agreed happily. They both made the short trip to the kitchen together, letting the door swing shut behind them as they entered the room. “Thanks for offering to help,” Cyrus beamed at him. “I was afraid I was going to have to make two trips with all the stuff everyone wanted me to get.”

“It’s all good, Goodman,” Jonah said enthusiastically, patting Cyrus on the shoulder quickly. Hopefully, he’d be able to talk to Cyrus about his Secret Snowflake gift for a few minutes without raising too much suspicion from the others. “There was actually something I wanted to talk to you about—”

But Cyrus wasn’t paying attention, grabbing a container out of one of the kitchen cabinets and some plastic bags. “Buffy wanted trail mix. Do you think this is enough?” Cyrus asked, filling half the plastic bag with the snack.

Jonah shook his head to himself, trying to brush off the interruption. “You should fill it up more,” he said, grabbing the container from him and dumping more in the plastic bag. “She always ends up eating the whole thing without realizing it,” he laughed. “Also, take out the raisins. She _hates_ them,” he added, picking them out one by one.

A beat of surprised silence from both of them followed for a second. “I should’ve known that. How did you know that?” Cyrus asked, a slight frown forming on his face.

Jonah furrowed his eyebrows, that same confusion from before rising in his chest. “I don’t know,” he admitted with a nervous laugh. “Weird.”

“Hm,” Cyrus mumbled in thought. “That _is_ weird.”

Jonah felt his frown deepen, a rarity for his always-smiling face. “Yeah,” he said slowly, not wanting to think about it too much. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you about something—”

“Could you get the drinks out of the fridge?” Cyrus asked again, too lost in his own thought to pay attention. “I need two water bottles, a Coke, and three sports drinks.”

“Oh, sure,” Jonah said, trying to bite back his frustration as he opened the fridge. He pulled out the drinks Cyrus had asked for and set them on the counter before adding, “Anyway, as I was saying—”

“Now I need—” Cyrus started again, but Jonah stopped him, grabbing his arm to get his attention.

“ _Cyrus_ ,” he exclaimed in exasperation, a sigh escaping his lips. “I need to talk to you about something.”

The other boy widened his eyes in surprise, his lips quirking up into a smile. “Oh, sorry...I guess I wasn’t paying attention. Studying can do that to a guy,” he joked. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

Jonah let out a sigh, sounding more defeated than annoyed as he sat down on a bar stool. “It’s about my Secret Snowflake present. I was hoping you could help me with my gift,” he explained.

An excited smile grew on Cyrus’s face. “Ooh, let me guess! You have Walker? Andi? Is it me? _Tell me_! Wait, don’t. I’m going to say I don’t want to know even though I really do to keep the magic of Secret Snowflake alive.”

“Cyrus,” Jonah laughed, slightly amused. “I’m going to tell you.”

“Oh, thank goodness, the suspense was killing me,” Cyrus sighed in relief, a hand on his chest. “So, who do you have?”

He levelled his gaze at the granite countertop. “Buffy,” he admitted, anxiously wringing his hands in his lap. (Why was he nervous, anyway? That confused, nervous feeling in his chest was there more often than not nowadays, but _why_ , he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.)

A look of confusion passed over Cyrus’s face, his eyebrows drawing into a firm, thick line. “Buffy? Why would you need help getting a present for her? She _loves_ your gifts!”

“I know, I know, but I’ve been feeling really stressed to get her an even _better_ present than what I got for the time capsule and I don’t work well under pressure!”

Cyrus put a comforting hand on his arm. “Jonah, don’t worry about it! It’s just Buffy. It’s not like you need to impress her or anything like you had to with Andi and Amber back in middle school.”

 _She isn’t_ just _Buffy_ , he mused silently. The thought came and went so fast that he wasn’t sure it’d ever been there at all, but whatever it was, he knew it was right, no matter _how_ confused he felt about it. “Right…,” Jonah trailed off.

Cyrus offered him a half-smile, a look of sympathy on his face. “If you’re really having _that_ much trouble, why don’t you talk to Buffy’s mom? I’m sure Pat could help you figure something out.”

He pushed his elbows off the counter before grabbing an assortment of snacks sitting there. “Come on, we better get back,” he suggested. “Those exams won’t ace themselves!” And with that, he was gone, stumbling back into the living room with half a dozen snacks in tow.

Jonah followed, holding back a sigh as he grabbed a couple drinks off the counter and Buffy’s bag of trail mix. He pushed through the door to the kitchen and made his way back to the living room, passing each drink to its owner before plopping back down next to Buffy. “Here,” he said, giving her the Ziploc bag of trail mix he’d been holding. She took it from him, a smile tipping at the corners of her mouth. “I took out the raisins since I know you don’t like them.”

“Thanks,” she said, surprise coloring her voice. She was still smiling at him, their eyes meeting for a few seconds before she broke the gaze. She turned back to one of her many study guides, crunching on a pretzel as she scribbled down another equation on her paper.

They fell back into comfortable silence as they studied, and Jonah made himself a mental reminder to talk to Pat about getting Buffy’s present.

* * *

A few days later, Jonah found himself standing on Buffy’s porch. It was Tuesday, the night before their first exam of which Jonah was really kind of stressed about, but for whatever reason, he felt like getting Buffy’s gift was more important. So he’d told his friends that he’d be late to their study session at Andi’s house and made his way over to Buffy’s.

After a few minutes of debating back and forth, Jonah knocked on Buffy’s door. It didn’t take long for Pat to appear, a smile gracing her face as she swung it open. “Jonah, what a nice surprise,” she said, standing in the doorway. “You know Buffy’s at basketball practice, right? And that she’s studying at Andi’s afterwards?”

Jonah nodded, that charmed smile of his overtaking his features. “I actually came here to see you,” he said. “I _kind of_ need your help with something.”

Pat raised her eyebrow. “Oh? With what?”

So Jonah explained everything, telling her how he’d drawn Buffy’s name for Secret Snowflake and how he was _kind of_ bad at giving gifts. “And I tried asking Cyrus for help, too, but he told me maybe you’d have an idea,” he said. He was swaying on his heels anxiously, hands stuffed in his pockets to keep them from the cold. She’d been quiet the whole time he’d talked and he was starting to get worried. What if Pat refused to help him and he’d be stuck getting Buffy a horrible gift that she’d hate—

“I’d love to help!” Pat said. “Just let me grab my coat and I’ll drive us to the mall. It’s too cold to walk in this weather.”

Relief flooded his chest, a grateful smile spreading on his face as Pat grabbed her coat and purse before closing the door behind her. Quickly, they both got in the car and started the drive to the Shadyside Mall.

The car ride was silent for the most part, save for Jonah softly humming along to a song on the radio while Pat drove. Eventually, she broke the quiet atmosphere around them. “You seem to be putting a lot of effort into getting my daughter a present,” she observed. Her eyes flickered between Jonah and the stretch of road ahead of them as she talked.

“Oh, yeah, I guess. Buffy and I are really good friends,” he said, eyebrows scrunching in the middle. The word _friends_ felt wrong somehow, though he wasn’t sure why. That _was_ what him and Buffy were, what they always had been. But now...it just didn’t feel right. It was like trying to fit a puzzle piece in the wrong spot.

Pat took a sharp turn, the mall coming into view ahead of them. “I wasn’t sure,” she said. “As much as she talks about you, I didn’t know if you were friends or…something else.” She smiled at him, eyes gently ploring at him, and _then_ he got what she was saying.

“Oh, we’re not...I mean, not that I...we’re just friends,” he said, stumbling all over the place. He sucked in a breath, trying to recover from basically everything he’d just said when he remembered the _other_ part of Pat’s statement. “Buffy talks about me?”

She smiled, pulling into the parking lot and stopping in the first empty space she could find. “Maybe she does,” she smiled, opening her door and snapping it shut. “But you didn’t hear it from me.”

Jonah got out of the car, cheeks flushed (and not _just_ from the cold.) He wasn’t sure _what_ to think about anything Pat had just said, but he decided not to dwell on it. He didn’t like thinking about things like this; it was all much too confusing and he tended to read into things wrong, especially when it came to Buffy. Thinking about Buffy made his head ache like he had brain freeze and a swell of confusion stir in his chest. (He was starting to feel like that a lot, like every time she offered to check the math on his chemistry equations, or when she smiled at him for remembering something as small as the fact that she hated raisins.) He didn’t know _why_ he felt like that, but he figured it was probably easier to ignore the feeling than to think about the reasoning behind it.

Together, they walked towards the mall entrance and stepped inside. The entire place was decked out in holiday decorations, tinsel, Christmas trees, and ornaments strewn across the lobby. “Wow,” Jonah said as he took in the sight. _This place could give Andi a run for her money_ , he thought. “So, uh, where should we go first?” he asked. He wasn’t sure where to start, which again made him thankful that he’d taken Cyrus’s advice to ask Pat for help.

“I have a few ideas,” she said smilingly.

Pat led him around the mall, practically going into every store to help him find Buffy the perfect gift. They searched everywhere, looking through each item in every shop, but nothing felt _good enough_ . Clothes weren’t an option; it’d be _pretty_ obvious he hadn’t come up with that one on his own. She already had plenty of basketballs and sports equipment, too, so that was also out of the question. Pat suggested getting her a necklace, but even _that_ felt too simple. (Plus the idea of Buffy wearing a necklace he’d got her made his cheeks hot and his stomach all squirmy and he really, _really_ didn’t want to think about why.)

After about an hour, they both sat down on a bench to take a break from scouring the entirety of the mall. Jonah _tried_ not to feel bad about dragging Pat all the way here _just_ to shoot down all of her ideas, but it was pretty much useless. He was about to apologize when she said, “Even though we haven’t found anything for Buffy yet, I want to thank you for asking me to help with her present.” She was smiling at him (undeservingly, of course), her brown eyes full of warmth and kindness. “I’m just glad I get to do something for her before I leave.”

Jonah’s smile quickly turned into a frown, a sharp pain twisting in his chest. “Leave? Where are you going?”

Pat gave him a sad look. “I’m being deployed in a few weeks after the holidays are over. Buffy didn’t tell you?”

He shook his head, much harder than he meant to. “No. She didn’t,” he said, sucking in a breath. “I’m sorry...I had no idea you were being deployed again.”

“Thank you. It’s hard, but it’s part of my job,” she said, the sad smile still on her face. “I’m just glad Buffy has friends like you to stick by her.”

“And we’re lucky to have her, too,” Jonah admitted. They sat in silence for a few moments, during which Jonah glanced around the mall. He _couldn’t_ let this trip go to a complete waste; he had to think of something for Buffy. But _what_?

He let his eyes scan the area for a few moments until something made him stop. There was a store in the back corner in the mall, one they’d passed by a few times but hadn’t even looked twice at. He thought about Buffy’s mom being deployed as he stared at the store entrance, feeling the gears in his head turning (if Buffy were here, she’d joke that she could see smoking pouring out of his ears.) “I _think_ I have an idea,” Jonah said. He was trying not to let his excitement show in case it was a total bust.

Too late. He could feel the grin overtaking his face, his cheeks beginning to hurt. “Really? What is it?” Pat asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. The gesture reminded him all too well of the way Buffy had looked at him right after he’d opened his slip for Secret Snowflake.

“I’ll show you,” he grinned. He felt the excitement in him spread through his body, all the way from his fingertips to his toes. He’d _finally_ thought of a gift for Buffy, one he was (almost) sure she’d like.

“Then lead the way,” she said, smiling in amusement. So he did, practically bouncing on his heels the whole way there as he felt that rush of enthusiasm rise up in his chest. As they walked into the store, Jonah explained his idea to her, smiling even wider when he saw Pat nodding her head, eyes lighting up in agreement. He’d been positive before, but now that he had Pat’s approval, he was sure of it.

Jonah was going to get Buffy the _best_ Secret Snowflake present ever.

* * *

It was the Saturday after taking his exams that Jonah found himself standing in Andi’s living room with his best friends. He’d done pretty okay on his finals (two C’s, three B’s, and even an A) thanks to all their studying sessions, so he was in a fairly good mood. The only thing stopping him from being at peak Jonah Beck level happiness was the fact that they were giving their Secret Snowflake gifts out soon and he was starting to get worried. Even though _he_ thought it was the best present ever, what if Buffy still didn’t like it?

That had happened to him before. Like when he’d bought Andi that rice necklace with her name spelled wrong on it, or Amber’s birthday card that she’d made him rewrite. Both times he’d been _sure_ they were _perfect_ , but they both ended up being horrible, _beyond_ horrible. He had a tough time imagining Buffy reacting in the same way Andi and Amber had, but still. The not knowing of it all made a ball of anxiety wrap around his chest like a vise, squeezing until there was nothing left but anxiety and panic.

The feeling only worsened once Andi stepped in the center of the room, wearing a red and green party dress and tapping a plastic spoon against her cup of punch. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” she called out to the room. Jonah felt his stomach lurch. _Please don’t be for Secret Snowflake. Please don’t be for Secret Snowflake_. “It’s time to do Secret Snowflake!” she exclaimed.      

That immediately piqued everyone’s interest (well, everyone except Jonah; the ball of anxiety in his stomach was starting to unravel and spiral, making his nerves feel like static.) “Already?” Jonah asked weakly.

Andi rolled her eyes. “We’ve been here for an hour, and I’m sure everyone’s anxious to open their gifts.” _She’s got the anxious part right,_ Jonah thought. “Everyone get in a circle and we can get started!”

Jonah gulped, heart pounding nervously as he sat down on the couch next to Walker. He already had his gift in hand—he hadn’t let it out of his sight all night in fear that he’d lose it or spill punch on it or something equally terrible. It was in a brown paper gift bag with a red ribbon stuck on the front of it (one he’d accidentally found looking for tissue paper to cover the gift up with.) Just looking at the bag it was in made Jonah’s nerves double, everything he’d been worrying about only increasing by the second as everyone else took a seat around Andi’s living room.

“So, I guess I’ll go first,” Andi said, smiling from her spot on the ground. She was holding a rectangular present in her hands, the wrapping paper on it red and covered with reindeer. “My Secret Snowflake is…,” she paused for dramatic effect, making everyone look at her in suspense. “Cyrus!”

An excited grin took over Cyrus’s face, a hand on his chest as in surprise. “Really? Me?”

She laughed and nodded, leaning over to give him his present. “Here, open it! I have a feeling you’ll like it.”

Gleefully, he tore his wrapping paper to shreds, revealing a book and some kind of embroidered strap with clips on the ends. “You made me a strap for my camera?” Cyrus asked in awe. “ _And_ a book about writing screenplays? Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ ,” he exclaimed, leaning over to hug Andi. “I’m _already_ feeling inspired to write another screenplay.”

Jonah felt his palms start to sweat; in comparison to Cyrus’s gift from Andi, there was no _way_ his present would be good enough, not for Secret Snowflake and _especially_ not for Buffy. The nervous feeling in his stomach only worsened as Cyrus gave his gift to TJ (go figure), then as TJ gave his to Walker. And suddenly, he was getting a box pushed into his lap, Walker looking at him expectantly. “Go ahead, open it,” he grinned.

Jonah blinked, giving the other boy a weak smile before tearing off the paper and removing the lid. Inside was a frisbee, an intricate design crafted on it with _Jonah “Condor” Beck_ painted in the center in careful cursive. For a moment, he forgot the nauseous feeling that had consumed him seconds before; the frisbee was so _dosh_ that it distracted him from his worry. “This is _epic_!” he exclaimed, thumbing the cool design on the frisbee.

“I’m glad you like it,” Walker smiled. Jonah continued looking at the frisbee for a second, swirling his finger on the painted frisbee. But then he glanced up, and everyone had their eyes on him as if they were waiting for something. At first, he gave them a smile, confused as to what they were looking at him for, and then he realized. It was his turn to give his Secret Snowflake present, the one that would in no way, shape, or form beat the amazing ones everyone had already given each other. Jonah felt his mouth go dry, his tongue feeling like sandpaper as he tapped it against his teeth. _Here goes nothing_ , he thought, clutching Buffy’s gift bag in his hand and standing up.

“My Secret Snowflake was...Buffy,” he said, the words feeling too thick in his throat like they’d gotten caught there. He saw a smile flash on her face, here and then gone, and suddenly it was replaced by a look of skepticism. _Of course she’d look like that_ , Jonah thought bitterly to himself. _I’m_ notoriously _bad at giving gifts_.

Jonah stood there, frozen in place for what felt like forever, until Buffy laughed. “Are you going to give it to me or…?”

He snapped out of his daze. “Oh, right,” he said sheepishly, stomach churning as he held out the gift bag it was in. “Here.”

Buffy took it from him, lightly brushing his fingertips as she did so, which consequently made Jonah’s fingers jolt away from her. _Chill_ , he scolded himself. He knew he’d been jumpy about this whole present thing before, but this was something entirely different, something entirely Buffy related.

Slowly, he watched her remove the tissue paper covering the top of the gift bag and pull out her present: a fuzzy brown teddy bear wearing a jersey and holding a basketball in its paws. Jonah felt his heart hammering in his chest as he glanced at her face, her expression morphing from blank surprise into a smile, a real one this time. “It’s so cute,” she laughed, a tone of surprise coating her voice. “Thanks, Jonah. I love it.”

Immediately, a swell of relief grew in Jonah’s chest, the worry he’d felt not as prominent as before. “Oh, uh, dosh,” he smiled, feeling a little faint as he sat down.

Jonah felt his pulse almost go back to normal as Buffy presented her gift to Andi (tickets to some art show she’d been wanting to see.) “Oh my God, Buffy, I _can’t_ believe you got me these!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the other girl.

“Well, of course,” Buffy said, rolling her eyes. “It’s basically all you’ve been talking about besides this whole Secret Snowflake thing.”

“Speaking of that,” Andi said, glancing around at everyone, “it was pretty cool, right?”

Everyone gave her grudging nods, even Jonah who had basically been panicking about the whole thing from the start. He had to admit, being the reason that Buffy smiled was something he’d never hate. “Maybe we’ll have to do another one next year,” Cyrus said.

“I guess we’ll see,” Andi said, but she was obviously quite pleased that her idea had worked out so well. “Anyway, time for snacks! My mom ordered a _lot_ of pizza for us.” She got up, everyone else beginning to follow her to the kitchen.

Jonah stood up from the couch; Buffy was the only one left in the living room, standing near the door that led to the kitchen and still holding the teddy bear in her arms. “Buffy,” he said, walking over to her.

She looked up at him. “Hey,” she smiled, a little surprised. “Again, thanks for the present. It’s actually...really nice.”

He smiled, just a little. Maybe it wasn’t as creative as everybody else’s gifts, but at least Buffy seemed to like it. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I _was_ a little surprised you got me a teddy bear,” she admitted.

“You should squeeze it,” he said.

She gave him a confused look, her eyebrows scrunching up and meeting in the middle. “What?”

Jonah took the teddy bear out of her arms, squeezing it in the middle. At first, nothing happened, just silence radiating between them. Then, a message began playing from inside the bear, the words only slightly muffled from the stuffing: “ _Hey, Buffy, it’s your mom…_ ”

Immediately, her eyes got wide. “Jonah, what did you—”

“Shhh,” he said.

The message continued to play. “ _I want you to know how much I love you, and how I’ll always be thinking about you, even when we’re not together, okay? I promise I’ll be home whenever I can. I miss you so much, baby. I’ll see you soon._ ”

Once the recording stopped, there was only silence between them again. Buffy blinked hard once, twice, then swallowed harshly. “You know, don’t you?” she asked. Her words cracked just a little, like she was desperately trying not to cry.

“Your mom told me when we went to the store together,” Jonah admitted. He watched her face; it looked like she was trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.

Thick silence hung in the space between them for a few beats. He didn’t think she was going to say anything, so he asked the question that had been lurking in the back of his mind for the past couple days.“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Her face grew hard. “Why didn’t you?” she shot back, crossing her arms. “You could’ve told everyone about my mom getting deployed, but you didn’t.”

His lips dipped into a frown; he didn’t like seeing her this way, all angry and defensive and cold. “I figured you didn’t want me to.”

“You figured that out? Jonah Oblivious Beck?” she deadpanned.

“Buffy, stop,” he said softly. She did, closing her eyes like she was trying to blink back tears. “Why didn’t you tell everyone about your mom getting deployed?”

“I told you I had to be strong, remember?” she snapped, and Jonah suddenly remembered their conversation at the Renaissance Faire all those years ago. “I can’t be strong when everyone’s just looking at me like they have to walk on eggshells around me. Pity just makes me weak.”

“Buffy, you’re the opposite of weak. And telling everyone wouldn’t make you any less strong.”

“It wouldn’t?”

“Of course not.”

Buffy let out a defeated sigh, rubbing her eyes with her palms. “I’m sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean any of it.”

“It’s okay,” he said, shaking his head. And really, it was; he didn’t mind Buffy yelling at him as long as he was the one that made her feel better.

“I really do love your present, though. It’s...one of the nicest things anyone’s ever given me.”

“And all this time, I thought I was bad at giving gifts,” Jonah joked. They both laughed, their eyes locking as they did so. Suddenly, Buffy’s gaze shifted upwards to something above them, and when Jonah looked up, he saw strands of green tied together with a red ribbon—mistletoe.

Slowly, they met each other’s eyes again. After a second, Jonah said, “You know, we don’t have to—”

“What if I want to?”

Jonah was taken aback by her words, and a bigger part of him than he cared to admit was wanting her to. “Do you?”

For the first time maybe ever, Buffy looked nervous. “I don’t _not_ want to.”

Jonah found his breath catching in his throat at the words. “Okay,” he stuttered, not sure what to expect as Buffy leaned a little closer to him.

After what felt like eternity, their lips met, her mouth softly pressing against his, and it was in that moment that all of his confusion surrounding Buffy was cleared up. Because _this_ was what he’d been looking for, what he’d been missing; a part of him felt stupid for having taken so long to figure it out.

Buffy pulled away from him just as Jonah thought his head was going to explode. “Woah,” Buffy said breathlessly. She seemed surprised, and maybe a little pleased, a fact that made Jonah’s heart race faster than he’d thought humanly possible.

“Woah,” he agreed.

Just as Jonah considered maybe kissing _her_ this time, the door to the kitchen swung open, Andi standing in the entrance. “What’s taking you two so long? Your pizza’s getting cold,” she joked.

“Sorry, I was just telling Jonah how much I liked his gift,” Buffy smiled. Andi glanced between them for a few seconds, a quizzical expression on her face—or maybe Jonah was just being paranoid—before she went back into the room.

He watched Buffy open the door to the kitchen, then turn around and give him a coy smile. “Are you coming?”

It took him a second to respond, the smile she was giving him making his heart practically leap out of his chest. “Oh, uh, yeah,” he said, giving her a dazed smile. He followed closely behind her to the kitchen, and though he wasn’t exactly sure what all this meant for him and Buffy yet, he did know one thing.

Jonah _really_ liked Buffy Driscoll.


End file.
